


Before He Fell - ROUGH DRAFT/AUDIO STORY

by DeadlyElixir



Category: Undertale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 04:58:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14948003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadlyElixir/pseuds/DeadlyElixir
Summary: if you are new to this STOP NOW and go to my page to read the original and rework versions of this story. These chapters are the me giving up on myself unrefined versions.Please refer to the video first and foremost if you are continuing the story from the original.





	1. ALERT

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Before He Fell (Old Version)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6279139) by [DeadlyElixir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadlyElixir/pseuds/DeadlyElixir). 



Please proceed to next chapter only if you have  
1\. read the original story at https://archiveofourown.org/works/6279139/chapters/14388190  
2\. Watched the following video for understanding of what you are about to read. https://youtu.be/9dJC196p1U0

Updates  
They gonna be on weekends cause I almost forgot the first weekend yesterday and I work weekdays so I know ill forget at least once. Better to be safe - plus it gives time for return readers to catch up.


	2. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the last redraft I did before deciding to do the re-work. So its a bit more refined than the later chapters.  
> Enjoy.

Human Studies Entry [][][][]  
It has been several weeks since I declared the testing finished. Feeling that proper rest could be the best remedy I did my best to get her to rest. She was fretful, saying she wanted to help.  
It seems she is unconvinced the testing as ceased. That her role as a specimen is done.  
I put her under heavy sedation, strong enough to even effect the SOUL itself. A method I avoided before since it would have affected any results we would have seen. I regret this choice, among many others, for it could have slowed the descent of her mind.  
For now, she sleeps. When she wakes, hopefully, she will be in a better state.  
~*~  
The papers rustled as Gaster moved them, reviewing their contents as the minutes ticked by.  
It had been some time since he had removed the sedation from the tank, it effects should have worn off by now, and but she had yet to appear.  
So now he spent the end of each day reviewing the notes for that day’s events, passing the time until he was required to clock out and return to his apartment in the capital.  
He glanced at the tank, but the tanks glass was tinted as always, hiding the body within; the room empty.  
With a sigh, he leaned back and stretched, his joins cracking from stiffness. A shimmer caught the corner of his eye socket, and he turned quickly, looking back at the tank.  
There she was, floating a foot off the ground, looking around confused. He stood quickly, and walked to her.  
“Good morning.” He said, though it was very late in truth, time different in the lab chamber. The human’s eyes turned to him, focusing. Reacting. Improvement. He studied her, and he felt relief. Her form was steady. No decay or damage. Her hair was its more stand cut, floating above her shoulders; her clothes neat and clean.  
The slumber had worked, she was healed.  
“How do you feel?”  
She blinked, staring at him.  
Unease sank in as she stared, “Human, do you understand me?”  
Her eyes shifted from him to looking around the room, studying it.  
Something did not feel right. He wasn’t sure what it was, but she seemed off.  
“Do… do you know where you are?”  
Her eyes snapped back to him, registering his words then… she nodded.  
The unease did not leave, “And who I am?”  
She licked her lip, then lifted her hands, “Doctor… Gaster…” she signed, slowly.  
Her reaction time was slow, but that could be an after effect of the sedative or… Gaster’s shoulder sank, as he realized what was making him so uneasy.  
Her eyes, the eyes that were usually a shining green, held the same haze that had been there before her sleep. The green now faded and dull.  
She wasn’t healed, her appearance had only returned to a more stable form as her SOUL returned to its standard stability.  
Gaster gave an involuntary shallow, “What do you remember?”  
Another moment, then her brows knotted as she thought. “The… tests…” Her eyes widened slightly, a connection being made in her mind, “Are… you taking another fragment soon…” The emotion in her face was hard to read, since there was so little, fear could be noted though.  
“No! No, I told you, no more tests.” His words seemed lost on her though, as she looked around the room, as if expecting something to attack her. “Human, focus, look at me.” He kept his voice steady but stern, drawing her attention. Her gaze returned to him, she seemed lost.  
With a sigh, he rank his fingers over his scalp, “Why don’t you… go back to sleep; rest will help.”  
If this was true, Gaster no longer knew.  
“Rest….?” She signed.  
He nodded, “Yes, sleep. I have to go, but I will return tomorrow and we can… speak more then.”  
There was no resistance in the suggestion, she faded without a word. Gaster returned to his office chair and cupped his face, thinking.  
Her stability was back at its highest recorded point. The amount of time that had passed was longer than any that had passed when the study was occurring. She had no physical defects… There was nothing that could fixed or worked on to improve her state. She was as healthy as she had been when they first met.  
Was rest the only thing available at this point? Would that be enough to fix the damage to her mind?  
…Could the damage be fixed?  
~*~  
The days passed with a heavy feeling, as Gaster forced himself to return to the chamber on a daily basis. Despite her more stable form there seemed no improvement otherwise. Her hazy eyes drifted, unfocused when he was in the room. His questions requiring repeating before she registered them. He asked the same ones every day, in hopes there would be improvement but there never was.  
As he sat in the chamber at his desk, review the results of a recent trial and debating on if it deserved to be further funding he was acutely aware of her presence next to his. The human hovered by his side, staring blankly at the desk. Her eyes were unfocused, he wondered what her mind was seeing there in front of her.  
He returned to the paper work but he could no longer press his mind on to the task. Closing the folder and placing it in his satchel, he stood.  
“I’m going now.” He spoke roughly, the situation taking its toll on him. These words were normally a sign for her, to let her know she wasn’t required to stay corporal, even in her confused mental state she seemed to understand, most of the time, that she shouldn’t force herself to stay corporal very long. She showed herself only when he asked, as far as he knew.  
This time though, the statement seemed not to be heard. Her eyes still focused on the desk, now empty.  
“Human, I am leaving.” He repeated, a more demanding tone to his voice.  
Yet still, she did not react.  
After attempting to grabed her attention a few more times and failing,  
~*~

Gaster gave a slight jolt of alarm when he entered the tank chamber. The human was already there, resting in his chair, staring at his desk. It was out of place for her to be visible when he wasn’t there. It was dangerous too, for if Alphys had been with him… but it had been sometime since testing had stopped. She wouldn’t be with him.  
“Why are you already present? You know you shouldn’t push yourself. You should be resting.”  
She looked up at him, as if half awake. She seemed much more stable in appearance and ability to stay present longer, her mind though… it seemed it was truly gone.  
“I...” she signed the single letter than seemed to forget what she was going to say and returned to staring at the desk.  
“What are you looking at?” He leaned over, trying to see what it could be. There was nothing though, everything on his desk was in folders to the sides, out of view. She stared at a blank spot. He sighed, shifting his glasses. He was at a loss. Her presence was too distracting now to work in the chamber but he did not feel right leaving her for long periods of time.  
She stirred, placing her hand on the desk in the empty spot. She didn’t shift through it but Gaster knew it was only one of the random times she was aware of an objects physical form compared to hers.  
“There’s nothing there.” He said.  
Her eyebrow knotted, something was bothering her. Her eyes drifted along the desk, searching.  
“What are you looking for?”  
She seemed to finally grasp his presence next to her. “I… wasn’t done with it.”  
“It?”  
She gave a small nod, “I… I was only on chapter 3.”  
Chapter… The book. It had been so long since then, the time she had talked about his pen tapping habit. The last time they had actually spoken normally… then another thing occurred to him, she was aware of it not being there. He tried not to but he felt hope, she was aware… she was healing.  
He started digging through his desk drawers, it was somewhere… Ah, there it was. He pulled the book out and quickly opened to the page she had been on before…  
“Here.” He set it down in front of her, sliding it to adjust to her view, “Its right where you left off.”  
She gazed at it, he waited for her to grasp its appearance. It seem to finally click and she reached up again, trying to touch the book. As always, her hand shifted through. She seemed to not care this time, her eyes began to move side to side. She was reading.  
It was the most he had seen her do in ages. Happiness filled his chest, but it quickly deflated as he saw confusion spread across her face.  
“Is it the wrong page?”  
She turned to him immediately, it gave him a jump. She was aware of him much faster, her eyes were hazy and unfocused though. Was he wrong about her healing? Was it just a fluke?  
She signed, “My eyes. I can’t see the words.”  
He had not been aware of this, was it another side effect? He wasn’t sure what to do. She returned her gaze to the book, trying to grasp the words on the pages.  
A thought came to him.  
Without a word, he left the room at a near running pace.  
~~~~~~~~  
He was only gone a few minutes, when he returned it was with another chair in his hands. He placed it next to her. She watched him, with curiosity, he was happy to note.  
He picked up the book and sat in the new chair. Flipping the pages to the beginning.  
He looked up at her, adjusting his glasses, and smile lightly, “I haven’t read this in some time. I hope you don’t mind if I start from the beginning?”  
She watched him with confusion, then his words sank in. She gave a laugh, a smile on her lips. Gaster felt hope again, she would heal. She had to.  
He licked his thumb, grasping the corner of the first page and started reading, “Chapter One. Buttercup was raised on a small farm in the country of Florin..."


	3. Chapter 10

Gaster’s routine changed drastically, if anyone ever knew his normal routine enough to notice. When he was not required to be around his colleagues, he was in the chamber. Either reading to her, talking to her, or involving her in his work. If he had to sleep, he did so in the employee quarters rather than returning to his apartment, and he made sure she was resting as well.  
At first he focused solely on her, reading and talking. In the beginning, she seemed to enjoy the attention but as she grew more aware she started to realize he was not working because of her and it made her upset. Once he figured out that it was upsetting her, he started making sure she saw he was working. He was somewhat thankful, his work had begun to suffer and under her watch he caught up on the things he was behind with.  
It was strange for him, to care for another enough that he wanted to see them happy. Her being happy seemed to be the key to her health improving. He had never been much for mutual relationships, even in his youth when his interest in the opposite sex was at its peak. Females tended to seek attention and often caused him more problems than not, ending with them leaving him because he gave more attention to his work than them.  
Even with colleagues, he interacted with them solely to further his own work. The few times he cared about what others thought of him was with employers, such as his Majesty, making sure they were happy with his results so as to continue to fund his work. Alphys was the closest he had to a friendship and that was only due to the fact she was his assistant, someone who was actively involved in his work, well, most of it.  
So, to want to make someone other than himself happy was… difficult. There was no logic to it. He had to guess how she would react to something he did, which action would give the best results.  
He knew that he acted this way out of guilt. He was a monster, not a human. As hard as he tried to ignore the emotion, compassion was an ingrained part of a monster. It was the reason he generally had an assistant like Alphys work with a subject, if a living one was needed, so as to ensure that he could focus solely on the work. Most considered him cruel, when in fact he was just careful.  
Generally.  
He had not been careful with the human. He had interacted with her, learned about her… grown attached. Like with a pet, like a dog. Well, not a dog. Those had a tendency to try and steal bones, not fun. A cat perhaps?  
Whatever the comparison, he was stuck. He had thought it was impossible to care for a human, thus not worrying, and he had been wrong.   
So now, his primary objective was making her happy.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Gaster was carefully putting together a circuit board when Alphys walked over to him, asking to speak privately.   
“I wanted to show you something important.” She said once they were alone, placing a hand on a tube container she was carrying, “It’s… it’s about the human.”  
“Alphys… I am not changing my decision. We’ve discussed this. Multiple times.”  
“No! No, I understand that. I was wrong to argue with you. I’m sure whatever reason you had for stopping the tests is a valid one!” She waved her hand in front of her frantically, “It’s just… you really need to see this.” She pulled at the tube container’s lid and pulled out the papers inside. Spreading the papers out on a nearby desk she stood back and allowed Gaster to examine them.  
He took his time looking over the papers, studying the data. “Are these numbers accurate?” He asked, not looking up.  
“Yes, I’ve run the numbers several times. They are as accurate as I can achieve with the data we have.”  
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “This… this is promising.”  
“One more test could-“  
“No. My decision still stands. No more testing until further notice.”  
“Yes, Doctor.” She didn’t try to hide the disappointment in her voice. He couldn’t blame her, he was reluctant as well not to move on with these results, but the human was starting to show real recovery… in fact these reports…  
“Alphys. May I keep these?”  
“Yes! Of course, I made these copies for you. I have my own.” She handed him the tubed container.  
“Good.” He slid the papers in and capped it, “And… I shouldn’t need to remind you to keep quiet about this. Too many questions.” She nodded sullenly. Gaster looked her over, seeing how upset she was.  
“Alphys.”  
“Yes?”  
“How are the trials of that mechanical prosthetic that you developed going?”  
Her eyes started to shine, “Amazingly! In fact-“  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The hum of the lights in the chamber were starting to give Gaster a sense of calm, after having heard it so often. He set the tube on the desk while he waited for the human to appear. It did not take long for her to do so.  
“Good morning, Gaster.” She signed happily. She looked good, stable.  
He chose not to correct her, time was an unimportant thing in this room. “How are you feeling?” It was something he asked every time he saw her now, always hoping for improvement.  
She thought carefully, “I am better than yesterday… and worse than I will be later.” She smiled at her humor. It was a good sign, but he still worried; her eyes still held a haze to them.  
“I wanted to show you something interesting.” He waved her over to the desk, she eagerly drifted to him. Spreading out the papers, he gave her a chance to look them over.  
“I don’t understand.” She signed, her eyebrows knotting.  
“Your eyes?”   
“No, I can see fine. You know I can read now.” She blinked and quickly added, “Not that I don’t enjoy you reading to me!” She became flustered, “I mean-“  
He laughed, “I know what you mean. I enjoy it too.” She was like a child at times, trying to get him to do things with her. “Actually, I was planning on going to the bookstore later this week. Since we are almost finished with the current story. I’ve run out of fictions. Everything else is non-fiction. Do you have a genre you would prefer?”  
She nodded eagerly, “Horror! I love horror.”  
“Do you now? That’s news. I figured you had a more romantic preference.”  
Her face turned red, “No… that’s… just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean…”   
“I’m joking.” She glared playfully at him, “I will try and find an interesting horror novel.”  
“Aim for something with… oh, how about science experiments gone wrong!?”   
He quirked an eyebrow, “Those are typically very inaccurate.”  
She grinned, “I know. I figured you’d nitpick the whole time.” She turned back to the papers, “So… what do all these numbers mean?”   
He leaned over her, careful not to get to close and phase through her, He pulled out a photo from under the papers, a strange black and white haze was shown. “Do you know what this is?”  
She shook her head, examining the photo.  
“It’s the exit barrier, the only way out of the underground.” She said nothing so he continued, “It’s the only thing standing in the way of monsters returning to the surface. Created by powerful humans during the war, to keep my kind trapped down below while yours spread across the surface.”  
“I’m sorry…” She signed, looking him in the eyes. The haze still held.  
He shook his head, “It’s not your fault. I know that.” He pulled up one of the chairs and sat down, adjusting it to become eye level with her, “I told you before, I was tasked by the King to break the barrier. It’s not an easy thing to do, he places a lot of trust in me.” Picking up the photo, he examined it, “We know of only one way to break it and currently…” He glanced at her, “Well, as it stands, it’s impossible to achieve that method. So, it’s my job, among many others, to think of alternatives.”  
“For the longest time… we’ve made no progress. The barrier is too strong. Too complicated.” He placed the photo down, placing a palm on the data-filled paper. “No progress… until now.”  
She looked over the papers again, trying to understand them. He continued, “The data in these reports… they show a potential understanding of the barrier. Of how it works. Frequencies, analysises … too much to explain and too difficult to understand.”  
“Then why show me?” She signed, annoyed at her lack of ability.  
“Because all this information. This data. The progress.” He picked his next words carefully, “They… I have you to thank for it.”  
“Me?” She started reading the papers again, trying to understand, “How?”  
“Thanks to the tests… everything we learned from your SOUL. We have a better understanding.”  
She was still as she processed his words, shifting her gaze between him and looking over the papers. Finally her hands moved, “Do… do you need to start the tests again?” There was a slight quiver to her movements, she was scared.  
“No. No, I told you that there would be no more tests. We don’t need to run them anymore.” A lie, but he knew she would be upset by learning he had stopped for her, “I told you, we aren’t going to hurt you anymore.”  
“It didn’t hurt.” She signed quickly, she always pushed him to understand that she felt no pain from the soul fragmenting.  
“Yes, I know. “ Just because she felt no pain didn’t mean it hadn’t harmed her. Again, he stared at her hazed filled eyes, “The reason I’m telling you all this… This information… It means…”  
He sighed, giving a small smile, “It means we have hope.”  
“…Hope?”  
“Yes, hope. Hope that, thanks to your efforts, has been given to us. Us, monsters, have a chance, the possibility, to finally be free. Thanks to you.”   
~~~~~~~~~~  
She hadn’t spoken in some time. All she did was sit there, staring at the data charts. Trying to understand them Gaster watched her from the other side of the room, giving her space to process what he had told her. For once he was somewhat thankful that she wasn’t gifted in science, for if she knew what that data said she would know he had lied.  
Well, not lied. He had exaggerated. The data was promising, it showed clear results between the connection of the barrier and the power of a human SOUL. With time, more tests and a lot more fragments; he and Alphys may be able to create a way to start harnessing the power of a human and potentially break the barrier. It was all theory though. The data on the desk only showed the potential of it.  
But the truth didn’t matter as much as the effect of what he had told the human, it was a truth as much as it was a lie. Thanks to her, her SOUL in this case, there was the possibility of hope spreading across the underground… if word ever got out. Which it wouldn’t. Unless Gaster revealed the human’s presence and all the information he had gathered over the years, it would be impossible to explain how he and Alphys had achieved these results. There was too much to lose. The human would either be killed or subjected to more horrors. Gaster could be punished heavily for hiding her, since right now humans were to be treated with kindness.   
So, no. Hope was not spreading through the underground, but it was floating around in Gaster’s chest. Hope that this news would be enough to break the haze the human still held in her eyes. That the times when she seem to drift away mentally would disappear. The random bouts of exhaustion and confusion that would grip her would finally cease. The side effects of the testing were still very present.  
So he watched her carefully, looking for any sign of improvement that she may show.   
She finally sighed and pulled away from the papers, “I’ll have to take your word.” She shifted herself so she sat on the desk, on the papers. There was no harm to it, since she was not truly there.  
“You didn’t believe me? I’m hurt.” He gripped his chest in mock pain.  
She gave a soundless laugh, “No. I do. I just wish I could understand this stuff.” She patted the papers that she sat on.  
“I understand them well enough.”  
“Oh, I know.” She pushed a few locks of hair behind an ear, “I just hope your right…” She closed her eyes, thinking carefully, “It’s very beautiful.”  
This statement confused him, “What is?”  
She opened her eyes again, the haze still there. “The surface. My home.” She looked up, staring at the ceiling. At something she couldn’t see. “I never appreciated it before, but… it is very beautiful. The trees. The mountain range. The way the wind could make your hair dance around you.” Her gaze dropped, a sad look on her face. “You know what I miss most?”  
He took a moment to appreciate how much her skill in signing had improved, how natural it had become for her. It was another good sign of her recovery. He thought carefully on his answer, “Hmm… food?” A joke, an attempt to break this depressed mood.  
Another laugh, “No. Well, close. I miss picnics. Laying under the sun, listening to the birds sing and the leaves in the trees shift in the wind. My parents and I used to go on them often when I was younger.” A smile danced on her lips as she described the memory.  
Gaster felt sad, looking at her. Freedom, he had brought it up as a way of trying to make her happy. A way to prove that all the harm he had dealt her had been worth it. Instead, he only reminded her of what she would never have. That she would never leave the tank chamber.  
He felt anger at himself, at the fact he had again screwed up and made it harder for her to heal, had upset her. That he could think of no way to heal her enough to live outside the tank. He felt useless, he hated feeling useless.  
Then the anger shifted under a realization; to the fact that for once it was not completely his fault. That in a way he had also saved her, because had he not found her, she would have died. That it wasn’t his fault that she would never see the surface again. It was his… the human male, Zach. The one who had manipulated her, abused her, killed her, and then tossed her down a hole like she was trash being thrown into a trash can.   
A thought occurred to him. A stupid, immature thought… but would it make her happy to hear it? He glanced at her, she was still lost in the memory of her past. It couldn’t do anymore harm at this point.  
He moved over to her, leaning against the wall next to the desk where she sat, “I had… a thought.”  
“Shocking. The genius can think!” She sign sarcastically. He laughed.  
“Funny. Seriously though… I… if we did break the barrier. Sometime in the next few decades…”  
“Could it really take that long?”  
“We’ve been down here for hundreds of years.”  
“Oh… right.”  
“As I was saying… If we break it… you said humans tend to last around 80 years or more at times… right?” She nodded, she was watching him thoughtfully. Curious what he was going to say. “Well, if we are able to reach the surface again… I would like to go to your town.”  
“Why?” She said with a laugh, “It’s boring. There is so much more you could see.”  
“It’s not what I want to see… more as to what I want to… do.”  
She tilted her head, wondering at his statement, “Do?”  
“…” Gaster considered stopping, saying something else, but he had already started so… “He’ll continue to go unpunished, won’t he?”  
“He?”  
“Zach.” Her eyes enlarged, then narrowed as sorrow filled them. She looked away, grasping her chest. Grasping it where Gaster knew the burn over her heart was, “What he did… something like that is unimaginable among monsters. If somehow it ever happened… the punishment would be… severe.”  
She said nothing, not looking at him.  
“If I ever have a chance… I will track him down and make sure… make sure he receives the punishment he deserves… ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended to show more development of her recovery than this. Plus make Gaster less... emotional all over. I feel like he's a more stable character than what you see here. Plus more respect/kindness towards Al - which is why you saw more character development between her and him in the reworks.


End file.
